A train traveling along the northern coast of Norway derailed on Thursday, leaving at least one person dead and four injured, according to the police. The incident occurred with 55 people on board the Arctic Circle Express, which was heading from Trondheim to Bodoe, north of the Arctic Circle. NRK published a video of the derailed train, which went off the tracks on the mountainside, crashing into trees and falling onto the road, which was closed after the incident.
Photos shared in Norwegian media showed the locomotive and at least two passenger cars involved. The uninjured passengers were taken by bus to the town of Mo i Rana, located about 228 kilometers south of Bodoe. According to the police, the accident may have been caused by a rockslide, affecting a formation consisting of a locomotive and five cars.
In shared testimonies, it was described that the train braked abruptly, throwing passengers inside the cars and breaking windows. Sissel Trøan, one of the passengers, told NRK that the experience of the sudden stop was "dramatic." "I flew over a guy and broke a table we had in front of us," she declared. The newspaper VG published an image showing a large rock on the track that impacted one of the cars.
Ingvart Strand Mølster, another passenger, stated to NRK that a rock hit the train, but that no one in his car was injured, except for one person with a minor ankle injury. A witness told Avisa Nordland that people were evacuated through the windows. The police received notice of the derailment at 1215 GMT, and the four injured were taken to a nearby hospital, with their condition not specified.